CLINICAL IMMUNITY TO PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM MALARIA IS ASSOCIATED WITHSERUM ANTIBODIES TO THE 19-KDA C-TERMINAL FRAGMENT OF THE MEROZOITE SURFACE-ANTIGEN, PFMSP-1

The development of an effective malaria vaccine depends upon identific ation of antigens that are targets of protective immune responses, An immunoepidemiologic approach has been used to investigate the relation ship between antibody responses to a defined region of the major meroz oite surface protein of Plasmodium falciparum (PfMSP-1(19)) and resist ance to clinical malaria in 2 populations of children from West Africa , After allowing for the confounding effects of age, antibodies to PfM SP-1(19) were shown to provide similar to 40% protection against clini cal malaria in children in Sierra Leone, In Gambian children, antibodi es to one of the epidermal growth factor-like motifs of PfMSP-1(19) we re strongly associated with resistance to both clinical malaria and hi gh levels of parasitemia.